Mike's Choices

2011-08-10T08:45:00.002+01:00

READING FESTIVAL SOON!! Only 2 weeks to go 'till the Reading Festival........I'll be there, as usual, with my Pit Medical Team to help those in the crowd at the Main Stage . Don't forget........DO NOT mix alcohol and drugs and have a fantastic week-end!

Mike

2011-01-06T12:37:00.002Z

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!
I hope you all have a great New Year and keep those questions rolling in..........forget the New Year resolutions.......tume in to Mikes Choices and keep up to date with all sorts of issues...........plus try not to drink too much alcohol!!!
In other words......HAVE FUN!!!!!

Mike

2010-08-23T12:17:00.002+01:00

Hope those of you taking "A" levels got the results you want!!!
Have had a lot of queries about taking ketamine..........long term use is VERY bad for you in that you get what's called "tachyphylaxis" which means that you need to take more and more to get the same effect but the side-effects - chest pains, stomach upsets etc. increase.........so if that has happened to you.....STOP taking it.....at least for a couple of weeks until the side effects go away.....then if you MUST take it........take it only for a few sessions and then stop for a week....that way, you won't need to increase the dose every time and you will get less side effects.......dont forget this drug can be dangerous!! (6th most dangerous drug - number 5 is Alcohol .......so DO NOT mix alcohol with Ketamine or any other drug)!!
Will be at Reading Festival this week-end, so will post some photos in a week or two.......DO NOT miss the Libertines!!
Mike

2010-04-16T10:54:00.003+01:00

"Icelandic volcano grounds all air traffic over Britain"

Much more interesting than the first televised leaders debate, I think you will agree!!
For all those that think that the National Air Traffic Services (NATS) have over-reacted, you ought to go to the following site and read about the 747 that flew through a volcanic ash cloud in 1982 and all four engines failed!! (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-431802/The-story-BA-flight-009-words-passenger-dreads-.html)

Happy Days!!

2010-04-03T11:05:00.002+01:00

Sorry I have been so tardy in getting this blog out......you know how it is......Christmas, then New Year (skiing!) then winter depression, then skiing again and now SPRING!! Hurrah!
Did you notice that another two members of the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) have resigned over the governments plans to make mephadrone illegal? You remember the headlines a few weeks ago ("Teenagers die after taking mephadrone") - well it transpires that at their post-mortem they were found to have taken alcohol + METHADONE + mephadrone......not really surprising, then, that they died! Despite the fact that many people in the know about drugs effects and the evidence base (Prof. David Nutt + others from the original ACMD and now two more from the current ACMD) are advising the government NOT to ban these drugs on a "whim" - the government is bowing to "public and political" pressure and banning them all the same. It doesn't make sense - 25 deaths due to mephadrone in the past year - 9,000 deaths due to alcohol in 2008 (Government statistics). Ah, well, what do I know (except that the Police are NOT in favour of banning all these new designer drugs!).
Happy Spring and keep those questions coming!!!!

Sacking of Prof.David Nutt

2009-11-02T17:16:00.002Z

It's an absolute disgrace! Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman Chris Huhne said the decision to sack the adviser had been "disgraceful".
"What is the point of having independent scientific advice if as soon as you get some advice that you don't like, you sack the person who has given it to you?" he said.
I absolutely agree. Write to your MP (whoever it may be) and complain.......if enough of us make a fuss, something might happen (we CAN change things if we try hard enough).

Mike

2009-10-29T17:18:00.002Z

I recommend anyone looking at this site to read the following paper at:

http://www.crimeandjustice.org.uk/opus1714/Estimating_drug_harms.pdf

It is written by Prof. David Nutt, Chairman of the government's advisory committee on the misuse of drugs and is EXCELLENT!! According to this report (no surprise to those of us that are interested in evidence based medicine) alcohol and tobacco are more harmful than many illegal drugs, including LSD. ecstasy and cannabis........the "hype" that skunk makes you schizophrenic, popularised by the media, is debunked. Read and learn, my friends and let's get a more reasonable illegal drugs classification based on the evidence and NOT on hearsay.

Mike

Reading Festival 2009

2009-09-09T18:46:00.002+01:00

Got back from Reading Festival last week.........during the Prodigy set, 1800 people "surfed" over into the pits and we (Festival Medical Services) treated over 200 people for "anxiety/crush/fainting" etc.etc. No one badly injured & Prodigy were FANTASTIC! Rather quieter for Radiohead (our local Band, as I come from Oxford) and who were excellent as usual. Hope all your GCSE's , A levels etc. went well and as soon as I get more photos will add to my gallery. Keep those questions coming!

Cropredy

2009-08-16T15:01:00.002+01:00

Just got back from the Cropredy (Fairport Convention) festival, near Banbury. Excellent music, favourites include Steve Winwood (Spencer Davis Group/Traffic/Blind Faith etc.), Richard Thompson (ex-Fairports + solo etc.) and, my personal favourites this year, Ade Edmonson and the Bad Shepherds, who turn punk-rock into folk and folk into punk-rock - excellent (see photo). Next gig is Reading , last week-end of August, so getting ready for that. Have fun!

Glastonbury + Moto GP

2009-07-28T11:15:00.003+01:00

Glastonbury was, almost, dry!! Miraculous.........will have some photos soon to show you all. Favourite band, Pete Doherty - although I missed his set!!!!! (Friends said it was excellent) + although I didn't think I liked them, BLUR were very good and Prodigy put on an exceptional show.
We went to Donington for the British Motorcycle Grand Prix - very exciting and managed to (accidentally) take a photograph of Prince Harry being taken round the track at very high speed by Randy Mamola on a Ducati! Also got Loris Capirossi's and Chris Vermeulen's autographs - on my hat!
The next big event for me will be the Reading Festival at the end of August and will take LOADS of photos for the website, especially of Radiohead, who are headlining on the Saturday. Keep those questions coming in........

Dr.Mike

2009-05-28T09:21:00.001+01:00

Hi! I'm off to the Isle of Man today for the motorcycle TT's. We are stying there for 10 days, so I'm afraid I won't have access to a computer - so keep those questions coming in and I will reply as soon as I get back. Keep happy and c u soon.

Mike

2009-04-18T09:22:00.001+01:00

LAUREN'S BLOG

Lately, Of The Pier Sucks

A couple of years ago I discovered the brightly coloured four-piece Late of the Pier, playing at the first Underage. I remember being blown away by the energy and originality of the group – they drew by far the most excited crowd, despite competition from headliners such as Patrick Wolf, the Maccabees and Jack Penaté. When new-rave troupers SuperSuper magazine made their promo video for the festival, which aimed, in true 2007 style to show “teenz havin a totez krazy tym”, they used footage from the set, thus was the frenzy that ensued from their decidedly electro but surprisingly blues-y rock n’ roll.

Further research into the band yielded the entirety of their unmastered EP, ‘Zarcorp’, available for free download. It was (and still is, if you can find it!) really great. For me, the main appeal was the juxtaposition of the Bowey-like nasal quality to Sam Eastgate's vocals, the candy-pop synths and the growling roughness of the guitar which had, at times, a tendency to demise into grunge. I went to see the band again, this time at the Oxford Zodiac or Carling or 02 or whatever it’s called this week, and wasn’t disappointed. In one of the smaller of the venue’s rooms, the atmosphere was chilled, and the crowd fairly unpretentious. The band themselves were hanging out in the venue, I had a great chat with keyboardist Potter, which resulted in me giving him a picture of a VW van and him thieving the purple feather mask I was wearing, to then dedicate their track ‘VW’ to me and invite me on stage to retrieve it! Their set was highly theatrical, and I saw again that energy that had so ensnared me in Victoria Park. They responded to the audience and received the same in return. Every song was received like an anthem, even the previously unheard ones, but especially ‘The Bears are Coming’, which began with the band wacking strips of wood with a stick on a construction that looked somewhat like a strung-up glockenspiel!

Sometime last year the band got signed to Parlophone and for me, this is where things started to go downhill. They released their album, primarily featuring tracks from Zarcorp. The songs, although recognisable, are now radically different. Sam’s voice has been mastered and overly layered to create a much smoother, but much less enthralling sound. The electronic sounds sound too synthetic, the irony of the kitch-pop replaced with something that just sounds….kitch. Unintentionally kitch. And the whole grunge element – departed forever! Admittedly, the new sound is more accessible, which may account for the average age of the audience, when I went to see them at Zocarlo2 a few weeks ago, being somewhere around 14. This time, the band were playing in the largest room in the club. When the band took to the stage, they looked somewhat haggard. Although it would have been more difficult with a larger crowd, there was none of the banter that I remember from previous gigs – something they achieved before the equally large crowd at Reading last year magnificently. They steamed through the album, talking only to complain about the heat. At the front of the crowd, kids were hitting each other and jostling (on the plus side, the energy expended trying to stay upright was probably on par with about 3 hockey matches),and from about 9 heads from the front onwards everyone was standing stock-still. I left feeling very sweaty and, frankly, a little short-changed.

In fairness, this could have just been an off-day. However, a meta-analysis via Facebook yielded similar results from their set of the same tour at Southampton Joiners and one or two London venues, as well as in-store at Rough Trade (although record store gigs are rarely the most energetic). I realise this rant may sound a little cliché – however, this is not about “selling out” or any of that kind of pretentious bullshit. It’s about a significant decline in quality. Within about a year a potentially great band have significantly declined and this makes me sad.

2009-04-14T14:21:00.002+01:00

Have been away skiing for the last two weeks in Chamonix.......loads of snow but melting fast!! Went off-piste into Switzerland for a day where I nearly frightened myself to death!! I'm no good at off-pists skiing! Back in Oxford now for a bit - next trip is to the Isle of Man for the TT races......taking my small m'bike for racing around on.....should be fun!
Where are all your questions......they seem to have dried up! Lauren will write a blog about her various favourite bands soon......and I have just bought Peter Doherty's solo album which is really very good!

Dr.Mike

2009-02-12T10:47:00.002Z

Have just read the news that the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs have suggested that ectasy (MDMA (3,4-methylenedioxy-N-methamphetamine)), be downgraded to Class B and this, surprise-surprise, has been duly ignored by the Government. The fact that this sends out the message that Heroin (No.1 on the list of most dangerous drugs ) + "Crack" Cocaine (No.2 on the list) is no more dangerous than ecstasy is completely crazy!!! Write to your MP........David Nutt (Prof. Neuro-pharmacology at Bristol University & Chair of the ACMD....has compared the risks of taking "E's" with horse-riding...............the first "kills" about 30 people a year in the UK while the second kills about 100 people a year and in addition causes head-injuries + neck injuries......and is TOTALLY legal, if not encouraged!!! Oh well.............another failure of the government to accept evidence based medicine!!! keep up the questions and have fun ....but be SAFE........

Doctor Mike

Skiing + Christmas + New Blog!

2008-12-23T12:42:00.003Z

Just returned from Skiing in Chamonix.......did the Vallee Blanche.....most frightening experience of my life!
Have a very Happy Christmas and New Year ........and in the New Year a friend called Lauren (aged 17) will be doing the Blog so it will be renamed Lauren's Blog and she will be writing about Bands, what she is up to and general news of interest to young adults! Much better that a Blog by an old git like me!!!

Christmas

2008-12-05T17:45:00.002Z

Got boat back to Oxford - nearly froze to death.......going skiing in Chamonix a week today, lots of snow apparently! Keep those questions coming in.....some of them have been very interesting.............bad biking weather, so getting bored.....playing guitar and listening to music.

2008-11-25T15:11:00.002Z

Just thought I'd say a bit about the confidentiality of the site! When I get a question via email.....I respond to it and send you a choice and then I delete the email AND the reply......so I do not keep the email address and no-one other than me knows it. I also delete the "recycle bin" every few days. If I get an interesting question that I think will benefit other people, I put it on the site, but only say whether it's from a male or female and the age of the questioner! We shall, in the near future, have a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) for each topic.
I'm off to move the narrow-boat (again) tomorrow for three days, and will be back on Saturday 29th November.

The Killers

2008-11-04T11:57:00.002Z

Just listened to The Killers gig at The Albert Hall on Radio 1........follow the link - www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00f8rbn
Brilliant..............have already ordered their new album. Highly recommended.

2008-11-01T16:22:00.004Z

Grand Opening!!!!
The website www.mikeschoices.co.uk is going live on 03 November 2008. Ally (the web-designer) and i want to welcome you to the site and hope you find it helpful. Have just spent a week moving a narrow-boat that is to be a friends live-on house boat from Devizes......so am totally knackered having done some 25 locks so far!!!
Mike

2008-08-25T17:44:00.002+01:00

Just got back from Reading Festival......had lots of work during Bloc Party & RATM but also had a great time! Loads of photos on flickr. Will keep you posted with next mission.

Hello World

2008-08-08T11:16:00.000+01:00

Hello World! This is the classic introduction for anything new in the computer world. Things will soon get much more interesting around here though!